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Eveleigh was named after the estate of Lieutenant J. R. Holden, so called after his birthplace in England. Much of the suburb of Redfern was known as Eveleigh in the early days. In fact, Redfern railway station was originally known as Eveleigh railway station. The Eveleigh railway yards were located immediately south-west of the station.

Following the nationalisation of failed private railways, construction began in the early 1880s on a new workshops complex, occupying an area of over 60 acres (240,000 m2), bounded by North Newtown, Erskineville, Redfern, Alexandria and Chippendale. Originally the workshops serviced and repaired the growing NSW rail fleet, but in 1908 Eveleigh began manufacturing steam locomotives. By this time more than 3000 people were employed at the site.[2] Many workers lived in the area, but many lived in other suburbs and until the 1980s commuting workers alighted at the purpose-built Macdonaldtown Station, located in the middle of the complex.

Included in the complex was a running shed, opened in 1884, for steam locomotives used in the daily duties of train haulage. Originally of three bays, the first was demolished about 1925 and the remaining two in the early 1960s.[3]

In 1989, part of the site was used to house Paddy's Markets, while the original site at Haymarket was being redeveloped.

The Eveleigh Railway Workshops are of great significance to Australia's industrial, military and social history. Eveleigh manufactured the first steam locomotives made in Australia, and it contains the most complete set of late nineteenth and early twentieth century light and medium engineering technologies in Australia[4] (much of which is now preserved in an industrial museum in Bays 1 and 2 of the old Locomotive Workshop). The Eveleigh site was also used to manufacture munitions in both World War I and World War II. It is also significant in the history of Australian unionism—in 1892 unions successfully negotiated to establish a six-day working week, and the 1917 General Strike, which began with the 3000 workers at Eveleigh, eventually spread across Australia, involving almost 100,000 nationwide.[5] The locomotive workshop was closed in 1988[5] and the main rail workshops were moved to Enfield. 3801 Limited has occupied the Large Erecting Shop since 1986.

Australian Technology Park occupies the site of the former Eveleigh railway yards.[7] It is the home of a growing community of researchers, entrepreneurs, incubator businesses, start-ups, mature technology companies and education organisations.